The Board of Trustees of the Polytechnic Museum recognized both projects for their innovativeness and originality of the concept. In addition, Naoko Kawamura & Junya Ishugami's proposal to create a large park under and around the museum was highly praised by experts for its environmental friendliness and maximum humanity in relation to the historic building and its place in the city. Thomas Lieser's project proposing to build on the Polytechnic building with an additional floor made of transparent materials, in turn, was noted for the thoughtfulness of the museum technology and the interesting organization of the exposition.
However, at the same time, experts had a lot of complaints about both projects, recognized by the leaders of the competition, and that is why the final winner was not named today. Both American and Japanese architects received a number of additional questions and wishes from the Board of Trustees of the Polytechnic Museum, which they will have to take into account in their projects over the next month. As we learned, one of the top-priority tasks is the need to take into account the peculiarities of the Moscow climate and make the projects "uplifting" from the point of view of the economy.
As a reminder, the competition was organized by the Development Fund of the Polytechnic Museum in April this year. In total, 25 applications were submitted for participation in it, and four teams reached the final (however, as it turns out now, only in the second round) - the already mentioned Leeser Architecture (together with Mikhail Khazanov) and Naoko Kawamura & Junya Ishugami (together with ARUP), and See also Studio 44 and the tandem Neutelings Riedijk Architecten and Project Meganom. Thus, whatever the final results of the international competition for the best concept for the reconstruction of the Polytechnic Museum, Russian architects (except for Mikhail Khazanov, accompanying the project), alas, no longer participate in it. The Bureau, which will receive the order for the renovation of the famous building on Lubyanka Square, will now be named by the Museum's Board of Trustees by the end of October this year.
